Group home robber gets maximum sentence

A Syracuse man who has spent the majority of his adult life in prison may spend the rest of his life behind bars for the attempted robbery of a state-run group home in December.
Saleem K. Ali, 44, was sentenced today to the maximum penalty of 25 years to life in state prison after County Judge William Walsh declared him a persistent violent-felony offender based on his criminal history in New Jersey.
Ali was convicted of burglary, attempted robbery, assault and criminal possession of a weapon in a Dec. 17 incident in which he tried to steal holiday money from a group of mentally disabled residents of a group home on Gertrude Street in North Syracuse.